The deal is expected to unfold over the next 18 months, and the combined company will have about $7.1 billion in assets, including $5.6 billion of those in deposits and $4.5 billion in loans.

The company will have 151 branches, 186 ATMs and 1,500 employees across Arkansas, Florida and southern Alabama, according to a Home BancShares Inc. news release.

Reaves, who has been with Liberty Bank since July 1997, explained that the leadership at Home BancShares and Liberty share common roots and a history of working together.

“John Allison and Wallace Fowler have been friends for a long time,” Reaves said. “They’ve known each other since John was in college. They were board members at First Commercial Bank together until it was sold to Regions Bank. After that, both men returned to their respective hometowns; Allison returned to Conway and Fowler returned to Jonesboro.”

The deal was announced during a Tuesday news conference at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce building, where Allison called the merger “the most significant transaction of my career and a game-changing deal.”

“We will keep as many people as we can, but there will be job losses,” Allison said. “Standardization is based on transactions, and that formula tells us how many employees we need in each branch.”

Randy Sims, the chief executive officer of Centennial Bank, said Tuesday at Jonesboro that Morrilton and Searcy are the only two cities in Arkansas with both a Liberty Bank and a Centennial Bank. Morrilton has one of each, and Sims said both of those would stay open. Searcy has three Liberty Banks and two Centennial Banks, and Sims said those branches are under consideration.

Every other city affected by the buyout has only Centennial or Liberty Banks, and Sims said that since there’s no overlap, “we’re going to need those branches and those people.”

“This is unusual,” Reaves said. “You rarely find an opportunity like this. There is basically no overlap in banking locations. No overlap only enhances the bank’s ability to serve customers and adds to their banking opportunities.

“Customers will see a great benefit from this. No overlap with facilities also protects the jobs of employees. No major changes, aside from typical reorganization, are expected.”

All Liberty Banks will be renamed Centennial Banks, and Liberty Bank Stadium at Arkansas State University will be renamed in 2014. The bank donated $5 million to the university in 2012 and secured naming rights to the stadium for 15 years.

“The name of the stadium will stay the same this year, but next year it will change to Centennial,” Allison said.

Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders of Liberty Bank would receive $250 million of Home BancShares common stock plus $30 million cash. The acquisition is expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of this year and is subject to Liberty Bank shareholder approval, regulatory approval and other conditions set forth in the merger agreement, according to the Home BancShares press release.

Each company has 46 branches in Arkansas, giving the combined Centennial Bank 92 branches. Sims said the combined footprint of the company would be amazing.

Wallace Fowler agreed. The Liberty Bancshares chairman has been in the banking business for about 30 years, and “you couldn’t find a better fit than these two companies,” he said.

Sims agreed: “There’s not another set of banks in Arkansas that will have the synergy these two do, ever.”

Reaves added that the merger means services will be extended throughout the state. No major changes are anticipated and no negative impact on the Arkansas economy is expected.

“To customers and employees, I see this as a greater opportunity for them,” Reaves said. “Take care of customers, and everything else works. If you don’t, you deserve what you get.”

Gov. Mike Beebe praised both Allison and Fowler at Tuesday’s news conference in Little Rock, saying he considered both men good friends who helped steer their companies through the Great Recession.

“They are the epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

Fowler said he decided to sell because it was time to move on and look out for the best interest of the company’s more than 400 shareholders. He said he’s known Home BancShares’ Allison since the 1960s, when Allison worked at Star Clothing next door to Fowler’s furniture store, and they’ve been friends and partners in business since then.

“We swept sidewalks together and had coffee together every morning,” Fowler said. “We’re just good friends.”

When Liberty Bank opened in 2001, Centennial programmed the data processing, Fowler said.

The 7-to-7 banking will stay at the combined bank, as will free checking, fees, free ATMs nationwide and current loan rates.

“The same great customer service will be in place, but our goal is to do more and better for our customers,” Sims said.

Liberty Bank employs about 650 full-time and part-time employees across Arkansas. Bank president John Freeman said 75 percent of those employees have been with the bank for 10 or 12 years.

“I haven’t come in to disrupt my hometown. I’ve come in to help support the people who live here ...,” Allison said. “We probably give more than any other bank. In Conway we have Centennial Park; the high school fields are named after us; we support the local police department, because I don’t believe they are paid enough; and much more. You will find the same things in Centennial Bank towns as here with Liberty Bank.”

Sims said his son calls Vilonia “Centennialville” because there are so many things in the town named after Centennial Bank.

“We support our community because the stronger the community, the stronger the bank,” Allison said. “We also like to support things our employees are involved in.”

Fowler and his son, Mark, will sit on the board of the holding company, Home BancShares, and Fowler and Allison will continue to work together.

“Two great friends and two institutions have come together to make things better,” Allison said.